The field of the invention is a turbine for converting the natural energy of wave motion and flowing river and streams into mechanical rotating energy, and subsequently coverting the mechanical energy into electrical energy. The thrust of the present invention relates to the turbine. The known technology of wave motion turbines includes a floating rotary turbine which is tethered such that the turbine vanes are rotated by the waves or flowing streams. Mechanical energy from the turbine is used to rotate electrical generators.
The inventor is aware of the following U.S. Patents directed to floating water turbines:
U.S. Pat. No. 565,022, issued to Newburg PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 669,852, issued to Peterson PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 672,085, issued to Tingley PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 868,798, issued to McLaughlin PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 1,782,227, issued to Smith PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,417, issued to Dementhou
The Newburg U.S. Pat. No. 565,022, shows a hydraulic motor with a spiraled blade attached to a rotating shaft in a floating vessel. The shaft is supported at each end and in the middle by bearings. The bottom half of the spiraled blade is in a channel that is fitted to the shape of the blade. The blade is not buoyant and therefore depends for its buoyancy support on the sealed chambers of the vessel.
The generating power of the motor is restricted by the close fitting channel of the spiraled blade. The only force of rotation applied to the lower half of the spiraled blade is at the head end, thus inhibiting the capacity of the motor.
In Peterson, U.S. Pat. No. 669,852, a water current wheel with fan-like blades is disclosed. The length of the blades is about half the diameter of the wheel, which is a very low working area for power generation.
A wave motor is disclosed in the Tingley patent, U.S. Pat. No. 672,085. This is a fairly complicated machine that is designed for ocean or a large body of water use, not small rivers or streams. There are clutches between each compartment section. These clutches will only engage when the sum of the positive forces acting on the screw are exceeded by the negative forces acting on the same section of the screw. Because the lower portion of the screws are at all times partially immersed in the lower half of a wave, sometimes totally immersed, there will be negative forces acting on all of the screw sections. In otherwords, the water in the lower half of a wave will be moving in an opposite direction form the top half of the wave. While it appears that it is intended to take power from the top half only, part of the power is lost to the negative forces in the lower half of the wave.
The McLaughlin patent, U.S. Pat. No. 868,798, is directed to a power turbine and generator where a spiral blade on a shaft is connected to a generator in a sealed vessel. The spiral blade is located behind the vessel such that water flows past the vessel before contacting the blade. The effectiveness of the rotating spiral blade is reduced by the shielding of the vessel.
The Smith patent, U.S. Pat. 782,227, a water power apparatus is disclosed, where a paddel wheel is rotatably mounted on pontoons. Based on the generation capacity of the apparatus on a stream velocity of 6 feet per second, the generator will produce about 10 KV/H, which is impractical for the cost of the apparatus.
The most recent patent to Dementhou, U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,417, shows a rotational buoyant mass comprising at least one pair of helical volumes that is supposed to rotate about a common axis. If it does rotate, it will be very sporadic and unpredictable. Since any energy in the lower half of the wave height negates most or all of the energy of the top half of the wave any power developed would be very small.
The main reason for failure in most of the prior art wave motors is the failure of the inventors to realize that there is as much water flow in a reverse direction as there is in the apparent foreward direction. Thus any energy utilizing device that is operated in the lower half of the wave height is in difficulty if the device is intended to develop usable power.
The main object of this invention is to provide a turbine which eliminates the problem of the prior wave turbines.